wentzel



Aug. 9, 1932. w. wEN'rzEl.

DIRECTION INDICATOR FOR MOTOR CARS Filedl .April 12 1926 lPatented Aug.` 9, 19,32

fuNITsD fsTATEsPArENr OFFICE wmz'rznr.,V or ramxroafrLoN-THE-mnm," GERMANY DIRECTION' 'mmcnroa ron Moron cans v I Application led April '12, 1928, Serial No. 101,451, and'in Germany February 15, 1927.'

u This'invention relates to aswitchvr for di-l rection indicators on motor cars, which :is-

composed of the same number of press butf ton switches, as there are indicating circuits 8 for the dlrection indicator arms. It is known,

tofcombinesuch press button switchesvfor "direction indicators with a.l clockwork so, thatv the, press button of the switch, after being depressed@automaticallyreturns into its in` A l operativ'etposition. "By'means 'of contact springs'arranged inthe path vof the shank ofthe press button and consequently bridged bythe press button, the circuit' of the indicatin arm controlled b the press button u switc 'fin question is hel closed during the i, wholefperiod, in. which the press button is h moved downwards andthen automatically moved back upwards, owing to the clockwork. A 9 Itis also known, to positively connect press A buttons of a whole series of united press button switches with the aid of a common coupling element having a limited freedom of movement, in such a manner that only one of .u all the press button switches can in any case be moved into .the contact making position.

A cord is often employed for such purposes l as coupling element with limited freedom of movement, which cord is fixed at both ends,

.5 and on which all the pressbuttons are sus-.

pended on rollers or the like.

vAccording to the invention the common coupling element having "a limited Ifreedom 4of movement, besides being connected with the press buttons of the press button switches is also connectedl in a similar manner with the winding lever of a clockwork, which through the spring pressure of the clockwork holds the comrnon cord taut by forming a l bend in such a manner that, when a press -Y button is depressed and, owing to the formation of a bend at another point of the cord caused thereby, the bend around the winding lever of the clockwork is made smaller and consequently the winding lever pulled upwards and the clockwork wound. On the hand being removed from the press button in question, the winding lever, owing to the 5 original bend and thereby shortens the bend spring force of the clockwork, reforms the' formed bythe press button, so that this button. is returned into its initial inoperative position. With this arrangementv it is possible to depress only one press button, at the An embodiment ofthe invention is illusc ing-drawing in which y *ig.'1 shows the switch partly in longitudinal section. Y

Fig. 2 is a cross section through the switch. dFig 3 shows a. switch seen from the outer 65 s1 e. y 'y In the drawing A, B, C, D are the press buttons of-four press button switches which are connected with a direction indicator. This combined switch is therefore in a posi- 70 tion to open; and close'the four circuits of four existing indicator arms. The four circuits may for example consist of one circuiteach for indicating. left turning, right t-urnin straighten and stop. If the-direction indicator has more circuits the switch therefor must have more than four press buttons, and inversely if less circuits are provided corre-` spondingly fewervpress buttons will be required. Each press button switch has two blade springs c, which are controlled by the' respective press button. According -to Fig. 2 each of the press vbuttons A, B, C, D has trated by way of example in the accompany- '60' ya cut out portion athrough which a switchv pin b lis moved backwards and forwards at8'5.

right angles to the 'axis of the press button, as'soon as the press buttons are moved u-p and down. f .The switch pin b bears against the contact spring c Lofv two parallel' contact springs c, d. As soon `as the ress button switch having this press button is actuated, the contact pin b will bridgethe ends of the contact spring c, al owing to the'depression of the press button in question. As the cons tact springsc and al are connected to the magnetic arrangementof the direction indicator as also to a common source-of current', the indicating arm in questionwill be actuatedby the depression of thepr'ess button A. In a-. similar manner the springs e and f, g and l h, z' and 7c will be bridged depressing the press buttons B, C and D respectively.

The invention does not diier from ,the

Aknown devices as regards the parts hitherto described. In the known switches however each press button is in positive movable connect-ion with a clockwork which pushes the press button back into its initial position af ter it has been depressed and released. The circuit in question in the direction indicator consequently remains closed yduring the time in which the press buttonis moved downwards and is then pressed back upwards by the clockwork.

In order to manage with only one clockwork irrespectively vas to vhow many press button switches or press buttons A-D are present, the common coupling element Z is rovided, which is fixed on the casing m at goth ends and which is wound over rollers n on the ends of the press buttons A-D and over the stationary rollers -ol in the casing m. This coupling element Z must have a limited freedom of movement in such a manner that it always only allows one of the press buttons A-Dto be moved into the switching position. The fact that this switching element Z only possesses a limited freedom of movement presents the advantage that only a single circuit from the indicator arms can be closed, so that the errors are impossible. Other gearing parts may be employed as common coupling element.

According to the invention the coupling element Z is wound, besides over the shiftable rollers n and the stationary rollers o, also over the roller p mounted on the end of the arm q, which is hingedlyrconnected to the winding lever 1' of a clockwork s. The toothed wheels t in the clockwork s wind the spring u and this causes the winding arm 1^ to seek to remain in its lowest position.

If the press button a is shifted in the manner above described into the position shown in Fig. 1, the roller n pulls the cord Z into a large bend. At the same time however the arm q and the winding lever r, owing to the limited vfreedom of movement of the cord Z, are moved from the position indicated in dotted lines into that shown in full lines. As soon as the press button A can move freely the winding lever 1' again moves into the position shown in dotted lines owing to the spring u and the toothed wheels t, and thereby lengthens the cord bend on the arm Q' with the contact between the contact springs d and c.

I claim;

In a switch for direction indicators comprising a number of circuits for the indicator arms, the' combination of a plurality of press button switches corresponding to the numbery of circuits, press `buttons controlling each of 'said switches, a clockwork adapted to return each of said fpress buttons into its inoperative position a ter being depressed contact springs connected in each of sai circuits, a pin on each of said switches adapted to bridge said contact springs for a speclied period, a common coupling element havin a limited freedom of movement arranged gretween all of said pressbuttons adapted' to allow the depression o f only one of said press buttons at one time, and a lever of said clockwork positively connected to said common coupling element adapted to wind said clock work on the depression of 'one of said press buttons and, on the release of one of said press buttons after being depressed, adapted to pull said button into its ino -erative position 'in the same measure as sai lever is itself returned into 'its initial position by said clockwork. 'I

In testimony whereof I aiiix m' signature.

WILHELM W NTZEL.

the aid of the roller b. In the same measure as the cord bend is enlarged around the roller g, the cord bend must be reduced on the roller les lll

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